Phil, I meant to post over the weekend, but I was busy having fun . Last week was a very nice week for me, and I wanted to thank you for all that you do. I am pretty much back to cash and really feel like I am learning. I have out performed the $5kp by a very large margin. Thanks again for the service you provide.

Scotbraze

I have been a member for over six years and I still learn something new every day. This site gives you the skills to trade without having to be spoon fed. More importantly it teaches you about risk which is WAY more important than profit. Honestly, it is not a get rich quick scheme!

Malsg

There are a lot of us that have been here a long time and we all learn something everyday. Just keep asking questions, there are a lot of smart people here and they are willing to help and then of course, you have Phil.

Jr Mints

I thank you for the years of being my teacher, always took the time to answer my questions.
You are the BEST !

QCMike

Phil, Passed a milestone today since joining 2 months ago. 25% of my account is in buy/writes, bull call spreads and disaster hedges. A majority of the trades were taken directly from your ideas or someone else`s contributions. Some were daytrades that became spreads.
That part of my account is up 30% as of today. I don`t worry about it, or mess with it much, did a few rolls etc.
Rest of the account is there to day trade, cover the writes and take advantage of opportunities.
Thanks to everyone who contributes here, what a sweet way to trade, so many opportunities.

Ben1Be

Phil, I was so impressed with the personal note in the comments that I went ahead and paid for a months trial of premium that I have been on the fence for awhile about. Just reading the comments makes me already glad for the purchase.

Smasher

I have been a member of Phil's site for three years and counting, and my advice is that all investing takes time. There are o shortcuts, no secret way to riches. Same with Phil's site- you need time and patience to start benefitting fully from his advice. But it is often spot on and also very useful, especially to me as I try to keep a level head in this turbulent stock market environment.

Jordan

I have been around for many years now, was a modest inexperienced investor when I started, and I can honestly say I would not be at the point in my portfolio I am today without the guidance of Phil and JeanLuc and Yodi and all the others I've had the pleased of learning from and, on a few occasions meeting, over the years. Truly been a great experience.

RPeri

Opt, I think the hardest thing is being disciplined enough to trade with you. Atleast now when I see something go in the red I know how much I'm going to loose and that I will profit somewhere else and have enough money left at the end of the day to trade again. Thanks for all your hard work! My stress levels are down 75% and I have even made a small profit in the short time I've been here

Mopar

Phil Thank you very much, I appreciate your help and wisdom.

CdsdpDean

Phil, thanks for the webinar and options subject…I wasn't shown as attending but I was there for most of it. Your memory amazes me, your speed on the computer amazes me, your math skills blow me away. coke

Coke

Oxen (directly) and Wilkinson (indirectly) are making me a great day trader! Props to Andrew for another little nugget last night: HIG. $20 Dec calls paid 6% quickly this morning. And helloooo STJ - a few days, but nice pick nonetheless - esp with early cover premium.

Dstillwe

Phil — gotta thank you for your advice this week, and especially today. I took many aspects of your advice this morning, with all of my shorts -- being prepared on the short side, selling into intial excitement, taking the money and running, not being greedy. I also made money on the your /QM and /YM calls. It used to be I would be terrified of weeks like this one. Now, it feels somewhat comfortable, for want of a better word.

Escohen5

A truly great website with a lot of information for investors. Whether you are a novice, seasoned, or a professional there is a lot to be gained about stock options and options trading from this very informative website.

ZKatkin

I started with $250,000 in cash as of Oct 1 and have realized gains of $81,000 thru close of business. And that's in an IRA with no margin or naked trades. Whenever you are in Argentina or Chile I owe you a drink. I'm looking forward to it.

Denlundy

Phil/thankyou. Phil, I went over the recording of last weeks webinar. I liked it a lot and wanted to thank you. I thought the case studies (company reviews) were detailed, I learned more about selling puts process and also what happens if stock continues to go down after that, I liked the fact that we discuss so many different avenues like stocks, optiond, futures, oil, commodities etc… I replayed portions of it multiple times to make sure I was grasping it but wanted to say good job. Thanks…

Nramanuja

Phil- I am a former portfolio manager and now retired. I have been following you for about six months and I now know why you have so many followers you are very insightful and knowledgeable.

Mkozberg

I subscribed to Phils Stock World full service for a year or so and found that it was extremely helpful. Now I just get the Stock World Weekly summary, which I find invaluable.
Phil does not baby people and certainly can't make someone into a successful stock operator who does not make the effort on their own behalf, but he is extremely generous with his time in answering newbie questions.
Although I found it difficult to follow and implement all his trades in real time, what I did find was that once you got the hang of his methodology and way of thinking, you could work out your own trades and be quite successful. Even just using his patent Rule Number One* alone is worth its weight in gold. Rule Number Two is even better.

Rookie IRA Investor

Great calls this week!

SNS1

I am a Registered Nurse, so is my wife. We work hard to take care of seven kids that are the joy of our lives. The cost for a basic membership is ALOT from our our monthly budget of spending and saving…but well worth it! Phil has allowed me to really ramp up the savings we put away for our children's college funds and our retirement.

David

Hello Phil,
Thanks for the heads up on the comming sell off on friday, and the bs job yesterday. your our guiding light!

Microflux

PSW AC Conf: For those who may be on the bubble, I attended my first PSW LV in November. It was a real eye-opener. What I accomplished in a couple of days of exposure to Phil, Pharm, Craig, et al made my previous couple of years of hanging around the web site seem silly. If you are inclined in the slightest, you really should go. Just rubbing shoulders with other PSW members proved to be really valuable. Strictly on the basis of value, it's a great deal. You will have real time conversations with Phil and the gang and they will get to your questions and agenda items.

Mjjwo9b

Thanks to Phil (again) for the lessons on the art of the roll, selling premium and hanging tight under fire (particularly in the first hour of trading-MADNESS). Watching you manage the $25KP has really helped my trading in a big way.

Oknoman

Phil - I followed your great pick re F and sold short the 1011 2.50 puts (200 contracts) and paid for the next 10 years of membership fees…. Thanks!

Gel1

I have been with this site since the beginning and i have learned more the past 3 years than the previous 10. Information and great commentary are abound. The traders on the site are second to none and my portfolio has benefited greatly.

Kustomz

USO, QQQ- Phil, thanks for these plays. Out of USO for about 65% gain today and just keeping 1/4 QQQ.

Ksone88

Happy Thanksgiving Phil and to your family and associates. Also to all of the other fellow citizens of Phil's Stock World. I am particularly happy and thankful that I clicked on your article in Seeking Alpha a number of years ago. That opened the gate to Phil's Stock World and "being the house". My wallet thanks you as does my peace of mind in trading options, stocks and rarely futures. Your liberal views opened up my views—being a boot strapper (pulled myself out of a poor background) I was a CONSERVATIVE—cynical of others who weren't as driven. Now, I am much less so; you have taught me more than how to make money and manage risk. So, again I give thanks to you and the others of PSW!!

Newthugger

Thanks Phil another great week of guiding us!

Steven Parker

Phil: I am always able to figure out your trades, including the rational when put in the right context of previous comments, etc. Keep doing what you're doing. It is much appreciated, and invaluable. Your hit rate of successful trades has been very high in my 1.5 months as a member, but even more importantly is your teaching of how to repair and DD positions that haven't gone your way yet. As with most members, we all have our ‘pet' trading interests, and learning how to think about trading is much more important than a specific trade, which could see the conditions behind it change an hour later. This is the classic case, of ‘Teach us to Fish', rather than just giving us a fish once in a while. Thank you!

Neverworkagain

The strategy you have laid out pretty much mirrors much of my trading activity. I also mix in some momentum plays and "drop dead" bargains that come across my radar. My YTD trading profit is 63%. Back in March when Phil said "unless you think the world is coming to an end, then NOW is the time to start taking positions in Buy/Writes with the VIX so high." I jumped in with both feet - ( thanks, again Phil)

Sign up today for an exclusive discount along with our 30-day GUARANTEE — Love us or leave, with your money back! Click here to become a part of our growing community and learn how to stop gambling with your investments. We will teach you to BE THE HOUSE — Not the Gambler!

Phil - Thanks for the welcoming gift of the POT at a buck
Just paid for this month and my membership is not even 24 hours old!
looking forward to many more - bk

Bjkeck

Phil...The hundred grand portfolio updates are helpful...Fun ..and have been profitable...really like em... made some nice entries into USB, KEY today... and I better add those FAZ calls tomorrow... Really glad you put that up this morning...

Becker

Phil/CLK4 – Perfect! Saw the answer 1 min after my post…out with $740 on two contracts. Thanks again for the education.

Jeffdoc2004

Boring trading – Phil/ Thanks to PSW, my yearly covered-writes are on pace for 15%. Add the long puts and well over 20%… and I look at it once a day and never lose sleep over it. Actually doing better than my trading account at this point (Thanks, summer 2013)
Anyway, the point is that anyone with enough money would be wise to do the 20% – 40% stuff and do trading as a hobby…

Arivera

Dear Phil, I have followed along with your commentary and alerts and have been flabbergasted at your quick analytical skills and your journalistic skills to explain it clearly. In a little over three weeks I have cleared almost 1000.00 dollars and got an intensive education at the same time. I would like to immediately upgrade my membership. It is hard for me to follow all evening as I am in Tokyo but I can join you at the beginning of the market and read the next day.

Tokyolife

PSW AC Conf: For those who may be on the bubble, I attended my first PSW LV in November. It was a real eye-opener. What I accomplished in a couple of days of exposure to Phil, Pharm, Craig, et al made my previous couple of years of hanging around the web site seem silly. If you are inclined in the slightest, you really should go. Just rubbing shoulders with other PSW members proved to be really valuable. Strictly on the basis of value, it's a great deal. You will have real time conversations with Phil and the gang and they will get to your questions and agenda items.

Mjjwo9b

Tesla et. al. – I've spent many months getting hammered shorting overvalued Momos, until, finally, I internalized Phil's message. Play small; give yourself plenty of room to double/move up the [lack of value] chain in terms of price. Play short; take [Musk's, eg.] latest bleep and sell the spike for a short time frame, because his tweets always come to naught. I've been coining money doing it, I just watch that premium melt away with scarcely veiled amusement. Swinging for the fences is for suckers [me, for a long time]. Those little gains really add up — $2k per week of evaporated premium and you could actually buy a Tesla by the end of the year!!

zeroxzero

Wishing Phil and all fellow PSW members a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year 2017! Thanks to all of you for your insights and comments which help make me a better investor every day. Wishing everybody the best of luck for 2017

Learner

The virtuous trade / Phil throws out so many ideas, that understandably he rejects all calls for a running total of how all ""quoted"" ideas are performing – it would be unworkable. But without such a list, I think it behooves us to call out the trades that have made a difference. January 13 expiration is going to be a big month for me as a significant number of sold put positions will expire worthless. One example of the power of patience and leaving well alone:
VLO – sold Jan 13, 17.5 puts for $3.45 – and this trade was placed in August 2011. VLO is currently a tad over $35!
And as time went by, and I got more experienced – with the help of Phil and the contributions from board members, I started selling short term puts and calls around this position. Sometimes having to roll, sometimes doubling down but always knowing what I was getting into, and feeling very calm and focussed that whatever happened I could handle it. And if I couldn't then there was always Phil to lend a helping hand. All in all, my profits since August 2011 would qualify as a tidy addition to any earnings from the day job.
Thank you Sir.

Winston

Phil – I think I finally figured out your "crystal ball" time frame. You're about 5-14 days AHEAD of what the market is going to do. It's taken me a long time to realize this, but boy it's been profitable. I go in when you recommend something at about 25% allocation, and then add to it each day it "goes the wrong way" Then BOOM, one day it's all good…. The long put list was literally exact in it's timing.

Burrben

Speaking of the "Man Who Planted Trees", it really works. I bought BTU back in March at $49.87. I practically bought it at the tippy top. However, I soon afterward found this site, started learning Phil's methodology(and those in the strategy section) and began selling calls/puts regularly against my bad position. As of yesterday, I still own the original 100 shares, but have brought my basis down by over $11.00. Couldn't be happier, what started out as a really bad entry, I have managed to work down to a good basis. Had I not watched that video and learned your system, I would sold out of the position, and been kicking myself for making such a bad entry.

Hoss

Phil - Rode the /QM down from 99.65 at 7pm and now I'm taking your advice, taking the $$ and going to enjoy a restful night sleep. I don't post often so I want to say thanks for sharing your incredible market acumen with all of us. Your site has a unusually talented group of investors (and some characters) and I enjoy my days trading more because of it.

DaveW

I have been a member of Phil's site for three years and counting, and my advice is that all investing takes time. There are o shortcuts, no secret way to riches. Same with Phil's site- you need time and patience to start benefitting fully from his advice. But it is often spot on and also very useful, especially to me as I try to keep a level head in this turbulent stock market environment.

Jordan

Thx Phil. Lightly moving in the bullish direction. Took PFE for $14.35 and sold the Jan 11 C/P for $2.85 giving me a net entry below Mar 09 low. And I bought back those calls on BTU and JPM I asked about the other day and am leaving them uncovered for now, so feeling better. Still just learning the rhythm.
In the three months I have been using your system, my little portfolio is up 9.9%, so not only am I learning, but I am APPLYING that knowledge, and it's paying off. Thanks.

GIVE THANKS/PHIL
Have not done my 10,000 hours, but a couple of years at PSW, and moved from fishing with a single line to owner of a commercial trawler (metaphorically speaking). Now I fish with many lines. It is amazing when you go over the same information time and time again, eventually it clicks. Like planting trees; being the house, 20% sale items, selling into the excitement. and patience. I just sold an AAPL Jan 12 340/390 BCS financed by the sales of Jan 12 275 Put. The trade was put on one year ago for a net credit and exited five minutes ago for a 49 dollar per contract profit. No point in waiting till opex to see what happens, and I will just sell 10 of those VLO puts to make myself net the round 50.
I no longer worry about opex coming as I have adjusted well in time for most positions that go against me. I still make some howlers (RIMM, TBT, TRGT) but I play the percentages and my winners outdistance my losers by many miles.
I would never be in this position if it were not for Phil. He is a treasure, pure and simple. The goose that lays the golden egg if we care to listen and practice. Phil, a mighty big thank you.

Winston

Phil- great call in oil this morning! Now that Im no longer studying and am back in the real world I can only check this in the morning, at lunch, and after work. Anyways, you've been killing it on oil ( even more than you usually do) so I made a point to wake up extra early and made .25 off your ‘buy oil if you're brave'recommendation. It's nice to wake up and scalp 100+ bucks before I even start my real job. You lay those golden eggs everyday Phil! I thank you for that!

Jromeha

Hey Phil - writing to thank you!
First of all, and I know you have heard this a few times form some others - the portfolio updates you have done - with entries and targets and even margin reqs are invaluable!
I find myself understanding what is done here IN THEORY most of the time..however, there is a much bigger difference in placing and setting up the hedges properly than just understanding…This has been eye opening for me and Ifeel like I just took a major step in trading during the last week.

Bcfla

Thanks to Phil (again) for the lessons on the art of the roll, selling premium and hanging tight under fire (particularly in the first hour of trading-MADNESS). Watching you manage the $25KP has really helped my trading in a big way.

Oknoman

I must add yet another paen to Phil's "cash and short" call, as my TZA shorts are past paying for Similac and Pampers and have now covered all doctors and Mt. Sinai hospital bills for young Charlotte, as TZA took the portfolio up 10%.

Zeroxzero

I have followed a lot of Phil's picks over the last several years and made money using the exact option strategies he outlines. Of all the contributors on SA, he offers the most actual and ready to implement advice that has put money in my account. Many of us on SA actually are sad when we don't see Phil's postings for an extended period.

Brenteaz

Phil, thank you for all the education here. I've gained so much knowledge being a part of PSW.
Thanks to the rest of the members as well! I appreciate all of the contributions you make.

JeffDoc

Against all prognostics (bears) Phil pointed in the morning the correct direction, and in middle of day he pointed the possible move to 2.5% Incredible… I'm starting to serious believe on the program trading and the human nature behind the programing those "trade-bots".

Spider

I have followed along with your commentary and alerts and have been flabbergasted at your quick analytical skills and your journalistic skills to explain it clearly. In a little over three weeks I have cleared almost 1000.00 dollars and got an intensive education at the same time. I would like to immediately upgrade my membership.

TokyoLife

I want to thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. I've learned a lot (and still am) about your trading strategy, but also I see a man who truly cares about our country, America. Thank you.

Autolander

All I can say is — I understand that the Universe sent me to PSW for a reason. So, I'm listening!! …and studying. Your commentary is literally outstanding. …and your members are impressive as well.

Seaquill

hil, I hit my targets for the year in my 401K (thanks in no small part to your site), so I cashed out of all positions a couple of weeks ago. Feels good... I'm conservative with this money –looking for 2% per month, which i've been able to do… thx.

Your board has been fantastic helping the less experienced (includes me) navigate through all the turmoil. The contributions from your members has been well rounded, objective, and extremely helpful. Sans the politics you have built a fantastic community and that is a tribute to you. I thank you and all fellow members for there contributions over the past few days. Fantastic group!

dclark41

I have been trading for quite a few years and in good years made about 25%. After joining PSW, I followed closely the PSW strategy and my trading profit for this year is close to 70% to date. For fun, I like to mix in a few "Hail Mary" plays that really worked out well, but overall the simpler Buy/Write strategy, as presented by Phil so often, created the majority of the profit.

Ka-ching is the word though as we did NOTHING – as planned back on the 18th, in our last update - as we expected the market to go down then up. On Friday, we took our short puts off the table as we expect there is a better than average possibility that we go back down again between now and expirations (15th), so we took our short-term winners off the table. The only move we did execute in the past two weeks, other than taking our virtual money and running, was the sale of 10 FCX July $47 puts for $1.21 ($1,120) on the 24th and those cashed out yesterday at .13, up $1,080 two weeks early so of course we take it off the table!

Our other short July puts that were cashed out were:

20 short GLW Aug $20 calls at $1.30, out at .20 – up $2,200

20 XLF July $15 puts sold for .50, out at .06 – up $880

10 INTC July $22 puts sold for $1.05, out at .15 – up $900

5 BA July $75 puts sold for $2.50, out at $1.40 – up $450

5 DE July $77.50 puts sold for net .67, out at .13 – up $270

50 IYR Aug $55 puts sold for .53, out at .38 – up $1,500

10 FCX July $47 puts sold at $1.21, out at .13 – up $1,080

So that $7,280 was added to the $17,054 we have already cashed out as well as the $4,000 we withdrew in anticipated profits on two of our trades PLUS we got our dividends on NYL ($1,950) and AGNC ($2,800) for a total of $33,084 collected in just 4 months (100% ahead of goal) and we’re STILL 70% in cash! We’ve been waiting for a real dip to deploy more cash in our virtual $500,000 virtual portfolio and we haven’t got it yet. Meanwhile, we keep selling puts in stocks we’d REALLY like to own if they come down to our strike price.

As I said in the last update and as we teach at a much faster rate in our $25K (now $50K) Virtual Portfolio, we have a huge advantage when we sell puts in stocks we REALLY want to own as we can ride out the down cycles, as we did though the last update, because the "worst case" scenario is that we end up owning a stock we REALLY wanted to buy at a price that is cheaper than we originally wanted to buy it for. Either we get our cheap stocks or, as above, we get our cash! Cash is nice too, isn’t it?

Even our HORRIBLE RIMM short puts are coming back a little and we’re not too psyched about owning 1,500 shares at net $26.78 in January – it sure beats our original bet of owning 500 shares at net $33.35 with RIMM now at $28.93. That’s the power of scaling into positions, you can take a 20% hit on a stock, even a 40% hit – and turn it to your advantage! Our remaining open short puts are as follows.

So, even with the RIMM disaster (and RIMM is still over our net basis so it’s all just premium, PAPER losses so far), our net on the short put plays is a net loss of $555 against our $33,084 of REALIZED gains. Keep in mind this is our low-touch virtual portfolio, we’re mostly just letting things play out because SELLING premium puts time on your side and one thing retirees have on their side is time – so you can go play golf while the market flip flops up and down and we come back once every couple of weeks and make our adjustments and that’s that.

LET TIME DO YOUR WORK FOR YOU – that’s what being the house is all about and what our "Man Who Planted Trees" strategy is all about. You don’t have to trade like a maniac to make good money in the markets, you just have to trade consistently, over the long-term with solid, attainable goals. The man in the story doesn’t always do the same thing, does he – he adapts his strategy as conditions change over time but he just keeps planting. What have you done today that will make you money tomorrow?

While we wait for FRUITION (very apt in this metaphorical case), we take pokes at stocks we REALLY want to own at discounted prices by selling puts. That’s pretty much it for the strategy – it’s not all that complicated, mainly it’s just a matter of getting used to the rhythm of the monthly, quarterly and yearly adjustments over time. Which brings us to our remaining positions starting first with our hedges:

100 IYR Jan $50 puts at net $1.70 ($17,000), now $1.32 (down $3,800)

50 DIA March 2012 $110 puts at $4.15, now $3.15 (down $5,000)

That’s a very big swing on our hedges, that were up $7,250 last time and that gives us a nice benchmark as the Dow was 600 points lower (5%) at our last update so our hedges give us about $15,000 worth of protection on a 5% drop in the Dow, which works out fine because the paper losses on our short puts were $10,190 last time and now we cashed in our short-term winners and have a flat set of remaining puts in which we stand to collect $18,475 if the market stays strong over the longer-term. That’s why we didn’t want to offset our DIA’s – it was just too unpredictable and, when in doubt, better to be protected – we have many, many months in which to sell offsets. If we don’t head down next week, I’m fairly sure we will go with partial covers to pay for roll-ups on our long puts.

We don’t really want to be up or down, we just want to collect our premiums and our dividends – which brings us to our Dividend Positions and Spreads:

Isn’t this section nice and relaxing? It’s nice and relaxing for me to review. NLY – on track, AGNC – on track, FTR – on track, GLW – on track… We have short GLW 2013 $17.50 puts we sold for $4,800, we collected net $2,200 for the Aug calls (cashed in now) and we sold the 2013 $25 calls for another $1,660 so, IF 2,000 shares of GLW are assigned to us at $17.50 or less, we will have spent net $8,840 ($4.42/share) to own them. Isn’t that nice? THIS is how you buy a stock!

In just 2 months, we knocked 75% off the purchase price if it’s assigned to us. On the upside, if we cover at $22.50 ($45,000), we still have the $8,660 we collected and, if we are called away at $25, that’s another $5,000 in profits for net $13,660 potential profit on net $31,340 laid out (43% in 18 months and we haven’t laid out the $45,000 yet!).

So here we are at the beginning of month 4 with $33,084 already in the bank (our goal was/is to generate $4,000 in monthly income without touching our principal) and our dividend collections alone should carry us through to our $48,000 goal for the year but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a little fun money over the next 6 months. We’re only using about $200,000 of our $1M worth of margined buying power and, hopefully, I haven’t been too conservative in not taking more advantage of the small dip we did get but there’s always going to be something on sale and we’ll just keep selling puts while we wait to see who gets cheap enough for us to convert from a short put to a buy/write because each of those buy/writes is one of our trees taking root and those trees can bear fruit for us for the rest of our lives.

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Market manipulation…. One of the things I've gained from this site is the concept of market manipulation. I never thought it was so prevalent, but now I know it is. I actually consider its effect when I make trades. Several days ago, when AAPL was moving toward 220 I sold 210 calls. My reasoning was that they will probably pin this month at 210. They came in big time as the stock moved ever closer to 210. I agree with Phil's comment that one of the things we need to do is find out what they are manipulating, and how, and hitch a ride. They are doing this with several equities. I've actually seen one article describing several equities that were being manipulated to pin at expiration each month, and describing how it was done, and of course Phil has described it well. In some ways it's easier to figure this out than it is a ‘normal' market behavior, and thus easier to make money in certain equities.

Iflantheman

Phil Thank you very much, I appreciate your help and wisdom.

CdsdpDean

Phil.... I remember back in March of '09, you stated " Unless you think the country is going to hell in a hand-basket, NOW is the time to do your buying". Do you remember ?
I took your advice, and bought leap $2.00 calls on F, approximately 200,000 shares using the options, for just pennies. Now that was the best Ford I ever owned.... made over $1 mil - thanks go to you Phil. I now drive a Mercedes but still "love" the Ford.

1234Gel

Phil, those OIH $80 p that you recommended last week for ~$1 are now worth $5.50!

Greg

By the way thank you Phil for the DNDN idea. 3x till this morning and will 4x my small investment by next OE THANKS !!!!

Microflux

I have been here for 8 yrs, and find it the best service out there. There are more eyes on the market in this forum than anywhere, and opinions abound. So, relax, and let the group help you out.

Pharmboy

Phil/Eric/Cwan/Matt/Cap/etc.. - I've learned so much from all of you and want to thank you. I'm up 23% this month thanks to all of your advice - Thanks, guys!

Josiah

I have been very fortunate over the years as an investor. Last year was on of my best in terms of percentage gains. I have to attribute much of this success to my membership in PSW which gave me the best education available anywhere when it comes to the understanding of option trading , discipline and general trading strategies. I will be forever grateful to Phil and the many "highly skilled" traders that have offered their advice.

Gel1

Phil, thanks for the call on the SKF puts earlier, I'm riding that horsie downhill right now, giddyup!

MrMocha

GMCR – Just bought back my Jan $90 callers on GMCR for a nice $10,000 gain. Thanks for the recommendation Phil! It was nice to cash in on a momo.

Palotay

From following Phil I have opened up BCS and occasion will strangle some stocks. I will occasionally hedge using an ETF ultra. I have a big take down occasionally but so far I am way ahead of the S&P, and since buying into PSW some years ago by seeing Phil on Seeking Alpha I feel more confident in my abilities. FYI I am a retired entrepreneur formerly in the real estate and insurance businesses.

Newthugger

I have been here a year, and made most of my money back from the 14K fall. The people here are more than willing to help whe Phil cannot get to it. FWIW - This site is my brokerage firm, I was with Wells Fargo Portfolio and it was costing a fortune to trade, the costs here are more than offset with the data, trade ideas and profits you should make.. and I get a chuckle out of Cap and Phil's rantings on healtcare, guns, oh, yeah, and government….

Pharmboy

/NKD- Kownichiwa Cowboy!! One week of patience and scaling in and out pays off. This is a testament to Phil's fundamental analysis with the PSW technique. Thanks Phil.

JohnO

Phil-
I would like to echo the sentiments of dclark41. Joining this site was the best thing I have ever done to aid my growth as a trader/investor. There are so many smart and experienced people here sharing their ideas that regardless what your investing style is you will learn something daily. Thank you and all the regular contributors for your generosity.

Acd54

Opt, I think the hardest thing is being disciplined enough to trade with you. Atleast now when I see something go in the red I know how much I'm going to loose and that I will profit somewhere else and have enough money left at the end of the day to trade again. Thanks for all your hard work! My stress levels are down 75% and I have even made a small profit in the short time I've been here

Mopar

I love it when a trade really comes together. After 4 DD's and a roll, I cashed out 16 times my initial position in TLT today for a 140% gain. Thank you Phil for the lessons in scaling in, and paying for position.

2Can

GOOG, NFLX and AAPL all bought last hour Friday. Sold into the excitement the first hour today for an average of 15% on the options. And lots of them. Thanks again Phil for teaching me so well.

lflantheman

New members – a word of advice: you should check out the track record of Phil's last few trades of the year, and what the return would be if you just rolled all the gains into the next years trade of the year. Remember – trade of the year is one he's virtually sure of, and he rarely misses on those

Deano

I cannot believe the success I have had in the last 6 months because of what I have learned here! It has been truly life changing. It's like the old adage about teaching someone how to fish instead of just giving them a fish. Thank you Phil, I am forever grateful and hope I have helped someone else along the way.

Craigsa620

Thanks for the oil tip Phil: Bot & sold the USO May 29 calls for net $125. Not bad for few minutes work.

JWick1981

Tesla et. al. – I've spent many months getting hammered shorting overvalued Momos, until, finally, I internalized Phil's message. Play small; give yourself plenty of room to double/move up the [lack of value] chain in terms of price. Play short; take [Musk's, eg.] latest bleep and sell the spike for a short time frame, because his tweets always come to naught. I've been coining money doing it, I just watch that premium melt away with scarcely veiled amusement. Swinging for the fences is for suckers [me, for a long time]. Those little gains really add up — $2k per week of evaporated premium and you could actually buy a Tesla by the end of the year!!

zeroxzero

Thank God for Phil.
A few months ago (April) I didn´t even know what hedging was, and someone recommended I should check out some of Phil´s plays, especially on the retirement portfolio. When I first started to read it, none of it made a blind bit of sense to me, but I stuck with it and gradually began to work through some of the trades to see how it worked. Now I am putting on 5:1 SPY backspreads combined with bear put spreads, entering and leaving positions after consulting the VIX, and engaging in other esoteric maneuvers that are keeping my portfolio above water.

jmm1951

Phil fantastic call on the markets… I owe you BIG…thanks and have a great weekend!

Kustomz

Hi Mr. Phill, I am a Venezuelan lady tormented by our politicall situation, who use to be an emerging market trader, and many other executive positins in the finance "arena" and now is trying to built a new concept and service for asset management for clients on my own, I am in the trial and learning process at the moment, I also invest for some friends and myself. I want to congratulate you , because reading you fill my days with a touch of irony (besides ,of course the spectacular market insight) that happens to give me energy, its a joy the remarks and comments even the pictures used, sometimes I just read it for the fun, I completily agree with your thouhts, though we belong to totally different cultures and enviorements and certanly realities Your readings is like a little hand helping me out to be in the market and fight for my devastated country where every single day we looe inches and yards of liberty. You shoul try to writte a book!

Mindeyes

Phil: Closed out ZION with 49 % gain!

RMM

Have been a member for about 6 months or there abouts. Signed up for a quarter at first and then for a year. To me, and it's only my opinion, it's an investment and I have made the membership fees back many times over on the strategy advice. Since joining and implementing the strategy of buy/writes and hedges I have cut my portfolio losses for the year and have a really good chance of going positive this year. If I would have continued down the road I was on, I would still have been fumbling around without a strategy and completely inept in what I was doing. I feel now the strategy is working and I am far more comfortable with the risks I am taking. I still have a lot to learn but I feel the fees have been one of the best investments I have made. The returns have been fantastic. Still have problems with the politics but hey nobody is perfect

DKGuy

I subscribed to Phils Stock World full service for a year or so and found that it was extremely helpful. Now I just get the Stock World Weekly summary, which I find invaluable.
Phil does not baby people and certainly can't make someone into a successful stock operator who does not make the effort on their own behalf, but he is extremely generous with his time in answering newbie questions.
Although I found it difficult to follow and implement all his trades in real time, what I did find was that once you got the hang of his methodology and way of thinking, you could work out your own trades and be quite successful. Even just using his patent Rule Number One* alone is worth its weight in gold. Rule Number Two is even better.

Rookie IRA Investor

Phil - Wow…wow. The vision and inate grasp of the options world you posess is rather staggering. It's this type of experience that I really hope to develop. I'm afraid I still can't see the moves, but I WILL learn. I cannot thank you enough for the patience, knowledge and effort you put into this place. Please keep it going!

Where

You may wonder if anyone gets anything out of you seminars (or may not wonder). Anyway, I almost never day trade because of my job. Today, I was home due to the snow and since I was behind by 2 weeks on watching your recorded seminars I though I would watch one of them. I set up my pivot point charts in TOS to match the ones in your seminar and made the QQQ trade from this morning. I only bought 5 puts. While I watched the seminar, I would pause then switch back and forth and watch the live QQQ chart. I ended up stopping out for a $170 gain, but it was pretty cool to have the dip and recovery at the same time I was learning the art of stopping out when a pivot line was taken out.

rj_jarboe

Against all prognostics (bears) Phil pointed in the morning the correct direction, and in middle of day he pointed the possible move to 2.5% Incredible… I'm starting to serious believe on the program trading and the human nature behind the programing those "trade-bots".

Phil hi hope you are enjoying your 4th today.
Looking at the above on paper the 500k portfolio is very pacient. I must say all my trees of AGNC and NLY have been riped out. I managed to buy some stock of NLY but mainly sold puts on both stocks. HCBK you got me as a non believer. Same with SKX to me a dead loss as their claim on advertising is not true losing weight by walking with their shoes please!. The rest, I did not enter some of the recommendation with the full amount, have learned my lesson with HOV and BAC and C. So some of the trees are growing some missing a lot of water. Saludos

Phil
I had the same problem with AGNC and NLY – they were called away and if buy them back, short calls was out of premium.
is it better to sell ATM calls and hedge them with TBT (how I understand income of both companies highly depends of interest rate)
what do you think about Real Estate companies who pay monthly dividends (O) here we can sell ITM calls without much risk to be called away because monthly dividends are pretty small

Hi Phil,
If I wanted to start following this income portfolio from now, then would you recommend to reestablish all current position in your portfolio right now? If not all then please recommend which ones?
Below are all open positions from your post.

Phil,
I love this portfolio. While I don’t have the cash to follow it, I have been paper trading it in anticipation of the day that I do. (When my book sells and my Mom cashes in the Iowa farmland, yada, yada, yada.) You need hope, right? I would like to know more about selecting puts to sell. It is increasingly becoming a major strategy and my best money-maker in my margin account. No rush, maybe an article down the road on a quiet summer weekend. Thanks for the amazing work you do and happy 4th of July. I’m heading out for a walk here. (My wife’s picture.)

AGNC/Yodi – The key with those stocks is to just make sure you are the owner of record on dividend day. If you get called away, then you have to buy the stock back right away or, you could actually buy another round that day, uncovered, and you’ll get your dividend on 1x, even if the other is called away. Also, always keep in mind the best time to buy into AGNC or NLY is right after they go ex-dividend, as they get that big dip but usually recover quickly so you can buy in, wait a bit and then sell calls at a higher strike. On HCBK, I have a hard time considering that a "dead loss" when it’s at $7.25 and we get called away with full profit at $7.50 but, if you do not believe in them, don’t keep them, you can get out about even and that’s that. You should never keep a stock you have no faith in – it leads to poor decisions.

TBT/Tcha – I think that introduces a needless complication. Let’s look at AGNC, for example – they are at $29.60 now, flying up from $28.31 right after paying out $1.40 in 6/21. Look at the long-term chart. They paid dividends 3/21, 12/29, 9/24/10, 6/28/10, 3/29/10. It’s the same pattern over and over: A run-up into ex-dividends, $1.40+ drop in the stock over the next couple of days, then they recover back to where they were BEFORE the run-up. So it’s not that hard to time your re-entries well or the sales of the puts and calls but YOU HAVE TO PRACTICE FOR MORE THEN ONE QUARTER! I am very, very sorry that everything isn’t handed out on a silver platter and tied up with a bow in a pretty box but they don’t just hand out well-protected 18% dividends without there being a bit of work on your part (and not you in particular, Tcha, but this is a general thing for people with similar issues).

Look at a 5-year chart of AGNC, especially since mid-2009 – is this not a stock you WANT to own with an 18% dividend? At $29.60, you can sell Jan $29 calls for $1.20, which is a .60 dividend, even if called away at $29 AND you can sell the Jan $27 puts for $1.60, because who doesn’t want to buy the stock back for net $25.40? So you buy the stock for $29.60 (although high in the channel at the moment), sell the Jan $27 puts and $29 calls for $2.80 for net $26.80 and, if you are called away at $29, then we assume the puts expire worthless and you make $3.20 (12%) in 6 months – WITHOUT collecting a dividend. Worst case is the stock drops and you DON’T get called away and you do collect $2.80 in dividends and you get assigned another round at $27 but the extra $2.80 drops your basis to $22.60 plus another round at $27 for net $24.80 on 2x. The only thing you really have to worry about is if they are going to drop the dividend, which would tank the stock without paying you but, otherwise, you are planting a tree that can pay you nicely for the rest of your life.

O/Tcha – They only pay 5% and the stock goes up and down 5% pretty wildly. They are not very cheap so I’d rather buy, for example, FTR, who pay a 9% dividend at $8.20 and sell the 2013 $7.50 puts and calls for $2.15 for net $6.05/6.78 and, if you want to generate a monthly income, you can buy 50% more stock (1.5x) that is uncovered, which would drive your net to $6.77/7.25 – still very nice and, of course, there’s the 9% dividend on the whole lot – AND you can sell 1/2x the Aug $8 calls for .40, which lowers your basis on 1/2 x to $7.80 and, even if called away, .20 is still a 2.5% MONTHLY dividend that you pay yourself (30% a year) on 1/3 or ANOTHER 10% on the full 1.5x position.

Starting/Petronick – I don’t think you should get hung up on replicating positions. Yes, if they are still available for about the same price or better, then I still like them but there’s no need to chase – something is bound to go on sale in a month or so and this is a LONG-TERM portfolio and we will find plenty of short put plays in any given month.

Betting the farm (literally)/Rev – It’s not very complicated. When a stock goes down and I see a price where I REALLY think they make a good initial entry and I think the premium being paid on the puts is reasonable – then I call it a trade idea. To be included in this Portfolio, though, it also has to have good long-term support and a clear path to generating an income so I’m looking for the ability to sell calls on a regular basis and also looking for a stock I won’t be upset to double down on if the markets drop 20% or more. Short puts make money consistently simply because you are SELLING premium. If you consistently sell premium, you have an excellent chance of winning.

I don’t know why that is hard to convey to people because it’s pretty much the whole point to options – you can be the gambler or you can be the House. The gambler may get the occasional big win and get a free suite for a couple of nights but the House owns the suite and a hundred more just like it plus they have a vault that is crammed full of money because they PATIENTLY, HAPPILY take those small-percentage, high-probability wins – over and over and over again. They don’t care if any individual player (your putter or caller) wins or loses – as long as they are willing to come back and play again – statistics show they will lose over time. Not complicated at all….

Phil I share your point on NLY and AGNC but with HCBK I am the proud owner by selling the 12.5p of Jan 12 in Jan 11 for 2.08 now 4.40. As I said before on paper these trades always look better as paper is very patient.

That being said, how can you not love WFR at $7.50, selling the 2013 $7.50 puts and calls for $3.65 for net $3.85/5.67 and, since you make $3.65 at $7.50, you can also sell the Aug $8 calls for .32. Let’s call that 5,000 in the Income Portfolio (net $18,250) plus the short sell of 50 calls at .32 for $1,600.

Income Portfolio/Hextra – Patience! We enter new trades from time to time but we WAIT PATIENTLY for very nice opportunities (we added WFR yesterday). It’s a LONG-TERM portfolio that is not likely to have more than 20 positions max so figure 5 major additions or subtractions per quarter but plenty of shorter-term put selling WHEN IT’S A GOOD DEAL – which it isn’t at the moment with this big run-up. Any of the above short-put offsets would be appropriate for the Income Portfolio as they are picked on the same principle.

I like IMAX long-term and they got cheap at $28 and we have the Harry Potter movie this weekend which should be the biggest IMAX film ever. The Aug $27/28 bull call spread is .55 and pays 81% if the stock just holds $28 for the month. 4 of these calls can be offset with the sale of one Jan $25 puts at $2.40, which has about a $5 margin requirement (after using the cash for the spread). Let’s put 10 of these into the income portfolio, which will be:

Selling 10 IMAX Jan $25 puts for $2.40 ($2,400)

Buying 40 IMAX Aug $27/28 bull call spreads at .55 ($2,200)

So that’s a net credit of $200 being the worst case scenario if IMAX holds $25 through Jan expirations and, since we’re happy to enter 1,000 at net $24.80 (with more hedges, of course!), this is a nice play for that portfolio!

Speaking of bargains, SONC screwed up an aggressive expansion plan in 2008 and has never been forgiven. They are a great chain with 3,500 stores (too big too fast) vs. CMG’s 1,100. SONC dropped just 5% to the bottom line last year but that’s because they were stupid and spent their money on growing the business rather than buying back their stock to make their profits look good. In fact, SONC was so crazy as to SELL $2.5Bn worth of stock over the last 3 years so they could outbuild CMG 5:1 and buy up all the cheap, prime real estate that was laying around. They also paid down 30% of their debt but changing over to a franchise system has cost them revenues (but will pay off later, hopefully). So it’s a tale of a company that invests in the future vs. a company that invests in making investors think they are growing. I like SONC, thanks and you can buy them for $11.05 and sell the March $10 puts for $2 and the $12.50 puts for $2.10 for net $6.95/9.72, which is aggressive but pays 79% if they hit $12.50 by March so let’s buy 2,000 in the Income Portfolio!

IMAX/Dflam – Got a big downgrade today and people are bailing hard so good time to roll the Aug $27 calls ($1.30) to the Dec $28s ($2.80) for $1.50 to set up for a longer-term trade. Also on IMAX – some damned fool is buying the 2013 $22.50 puts for $4.90 so let’s sell 10 of those to them in the Income Portfolio for $4,900.

Volume is not very high – this is a retail panic so far. If you have short positions, strongly consider put tight stops on them (this includes the $25KP and Income Portfolio) as they put plenty of cash in your pocket and we can always find another layer of shorts if the RUT can’t hold 775.

Volume is not very high – this is a retail panic so far. If you have short positions, strongly consider put tight stops on them (this includes the $25KP and Income Portfolio) as they put plenty of cash in your pocket and we can always find another layer of shorts if the RUT can’t hold 775.

Good attitude LDM. You’ll notice in the Income Portfolio we’re about 75% cash. When the markets are this volatile (have been all year) you never want to go below half cash. It’s pure greed to do otherwise as you have $200K and if you have $100K in cash you STILL have $200K in margin to play with and that’s all you really should be playing with when $200K is all you have because a 5% portfolio loss becomes a 10% REAL MONEY loss if you are fully leveraged at just 2x. I know it’s tempting to make 2x gains but I always tell people – if you are such a genius trader that you don’t believe you can possibly lose when you are 100% invested, then you should be able to make plenty of money when you are 50% invested.

VLO/Stock – They were attractive at $25 now they are irresistible at $19.36 – good catch. In the Income Portfolio, let’s sell 20 VLO Jan $20 puts for $3.05($6,100). If you want to be more aggressive (not for the income portfolio) you can also buy the Jan $17.50/22.50 bull call spread at $2.10 for a net credit of .95 on the $5 spread.

Rolling callers/Chuck – Depends on the stocks but, if we put in a bottom here, I’d be more inclined to buy them back and wait for a pop. I’ve been waiting for the Fed to update the Income Portfolio but you’ll see me pontificate on the subject when I get that update done as many of those are buy/writes that have gone down quite a bit.

OIH Sept $123 puts can be sold for $6.75 and when’s the last time you’ve seen me bullish on them? Longer-term, the 2013 $110/130 bull call spread is $10 with a 100% gain at $130, even if you don’t offset it. The 2013 $100 puts can be sold for $11.50 and then it’s a $1.50 credit on the $20 spread and the worst case is you are a long-term investor in oil services at net $98.50 in Jan 2013. Let’s do 5 of these in the Income Portfolio!

TOS says net margin on the 2013 puts is $5,262.50 and risk is, of course, owning $50,000 worth of OIH at $100ish ($25,000 in margin) – That’s a good portion for a $500K portfolio.

Income Portfolio/Burr – My hopeless optimism, plus the idea that it was a low-touch portfolio had me putting off adjustments. We’re only about 1/3 invested so good opportunity to add longs but scary sell-off in progress now as the Dollar rockets back to 75 and Europe once again falls off a cliff with 2-3% declines since the bullish open. As you said – ONCE some kind of bottom is in place – we’re still looking for that place.

HOLI/Enni – Poor HOLI – BP got better treatment! I love them at $6 but I liked them at $10 too so take it with a grain of salt. Still, buying the stock for $6 and selling the Jan $7.50 calls for $1.40 and the $5 puts for $1.70 is net $2.90/3.95 so another 33% off before you get a 2x assignment. I like 30 of these in the Income Portfolio.

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